


Let's Kill Tonight

by justPallas



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Briefly Mentioned Bernadetta/Yuri, Dramatic Irony, Drinking, Halloween, Just in time for Halloween, M/M, Masks, background Edelgard/Dorothea, halloween party, no beta we die like Glenn, what do you mean it's February
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:21:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29298828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justPallas/pseuds/justPallas
Summary: Most intriguing of all was the mask. It appeared to be a plague doctor’s mask in the style of a crow, jet black and covering his entire face, save the two small lenses through which he could see a pair of striking green eyes. Green eyes that had certainly noticed his slack-jawed gawking and glimmered with something like mirth.“Had your fill of staring at me, then?”“Yes, well, sorry about that, I’m… not quite sure what came over me. Perhaps you’ve simply cast a spell on me.”
Relationships: Ferdinand von Aegir/Hubert von Vestra
Comments: 3
Kudos: 44





	Let's Kill Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> ~~Deep conversations~~ and wow I wonder what you look like under that scary mask AU
> 
> Deep conversations? Did you mean: Shameless Flirting and Sexual Tension?
> 
> This was kinda supposed to be a warm-up prompt and it turned into almost 3000 words? Oops? Oh well. Enjoy. It gives me a reason to kill poor Glenn in the tags, so that’s fun. 
> 
> Title from the Panic at the Disco song of the same name because I'll never change.

Until the moment he saw the man in the mask, Ferdinand hadn’t been having the best night.

He’d arrived at Dorothea’s annual Halloween party unfashionably early due to the simplicity of his jockey costume and was promptly roped into helping her and Edelgard finish some last-minute decorations around their apartment. Not that he minded. He _did_ mind when a few hours later, once the party was in full swing, he spotted his kinda-almost date swapping spit with another man before the two promptly made their escape from the party. He minded that very much, actually. So really, he could hardly be blamed for hitting up the drinks table a little more frequently than he normally would. But he’d taken a cab to Edelgard and Dorothea’s apartment and he’d planned on taking one home if he didn’t pass out in their spare bedroom first.

Getting blackout drunk wasn’t on his original itinerary for the evening, but let it never be said that Ferdinand von Aegir can’t roll with the punches. And wow, did he feel punched.

So, he spent some quality time distracting himself, trying to lose himself in the festive atmosphere, talking with friends, dancing with some men who showed some potential but were ultimately missing that certain something. As the song he’d been dancing to ended, he downed the last of his whisky, made his excuses, and decided to get some air.

One of the benefits of Edelgard coming from money and her girlfriend being a famous opera singer was their lavish downtown apartment, complete with a balcony overlooking the city. It was on this balcony that Ferdinand chose to unwind a bit, along with some other guests who found the main action of the party to be a bit stifling. Sure enough, on a patio chair in the corner, he spotted Bernadetta curled up in the lap of a man he assumed was the Yuri he’d heard so much about, her face buried in his shoulder. The lavender-haired man was stroking her head and seemed to be singing softly to her, lowly enough that only she could hear. Ferdinand smiled and wandered over to an unoccupied section of railing, looking out into the night.

Below him, headlights twinkled like stars, and the distant sounds of revelers could be heard echoing through the streets, the familiar skyline illuminated by the light of the waning moon. Or was it waxing? He couldn’t remember. It had been a long time since he’d learned about the phases of the moon and even if he were of sound mind, he doubted he’d be able to tell the difference. Either way, he turned to lean his back against the railing, elbows resting next to him on the cool metal. His eyes combed the smattering of people on the balcony, checking out costumes. Yuri and Bernadetta seemed to be dressed as Robin Hood and Maid Marian if their period clothes and the toy bow resting on the ground next to them were anything to go by. Other than them, there was a fairly standard assortment: sexy this, sexy that, some superheroes, a zombie or two… and one decidedly non-standard exception.

A dark-haired man leaned against the wall near the open doors to the apartment’s interior, and as if he could feel Ferdinand’s gaze upon him, the man’s eyes snapped to meet his. He was wearing long black robes that draped down to the floor and concealed his lower half but were well-fitted across the chest, with hands sheathed in black leather gloves emerging from flared sleeves. A string of small skulls hung loosely across his waist, and from that string, two golden chains laden with triangular charms connected the sides of his cloak-like outer layer. But most intriguing of all was the mask. It appeared to be a plague doctor’s mask in the style of a crow, jet black and covering his entire face, save the two small lenses through which he could see a pair of striking green eyes. Green eyes that had certainly noticed his slack-jawed gawking and glimmered with something like mirth.

And naturally, seeing as he was well and truly wasted, Ferdinand thought it would be just the best idea to approach this masked man.

“Had your fill of staring at me, then?” he drawled, voice slightly muffled by the mask but still clear above the noise of the party. To Ferdinand’s immense relief, he didn’t sound annoyed or disturbed, more amused.

“Yes, well, sorry about that, I’m… not quite sure what came over me.” And then, in his infinite drunken brilliance, he decided to supplement his apology with what he hoped was a charming smirk and added, “Perhaps you’ve simply cast a spell on me.”

The man hummed lightly and crossed his arms. “Is that so? I’ve got a funny feeling I know exactly who’s cast his _spell_ on you this evening, and his name is Johnnie Walker,” he deadpanned. He imagined if he could see the man’s face, he would have a single, elegant eyebrow raised. The smirk that had surely curved his soft, kissable lips would have chilled into something more disbelieving, based on his tone. Was Ferdinand making conjectures based on the kind of face he _wanted_ to see under the mask? Maybe. Definitely. It had been a long night. Sue him.

Nevertheless, chuckled at the mystery man’s quip, “Perhaps you’re right. Speaking of, can I get you a drink? Or would you rather maintain your secret identity?”

The mystery man paused, considering something based on the flicker of puzzlement in his eyes. Whatever it was, he seemed to come to a decision and shook his head. “Thanks, but no thanks. I make it a rule not to drink at these kinds of… functions.”

“You make it sound as if you don’t want to be here.”

“I don’t.”

The abrupt answer gave Ferdinand pause. “You don’t?”

“No,” he confirmed. “I’m here for a friend.”

What an enigma this man was. The more he learned, the more he wanted to know. “Should I be jealous?”

The masked man scoffed. “Hardly. She isn’t really my type if you catch my meaning.”

That was promising, at least. “Well, I must say, this is an awfully elaborate costume for someone who doesn’t want to be at a Halloween party.”

The man shifted so he wasn’t leaning against the wall and adjusted his cloak, jingling charms and rattling skulls accompanying his movement. “It wasn’t exactly my idea. But alas, I’m sure you know as well as I do that costumes are mandatory here.”

“Ah-ha!” Ferdinand cried, perhaps a touch too loud given the surprised jump and confused look he got from the masked man. Nervously clearing his throat, he lowered his tone and continued. “So, you’ve attended before. Another piece of the puzzle that is your identity.”

“Curses and damnation,” the man deadpanned, looking almost relieved. “However could I let such valuable information slip out of my grasp? Surely, I am foiled, given how small and intimate these parties are.”

“Tease all you like, but I will solve this mystery before the night is out, just you wait.”

“ _Tease all I like_ , you say?” The masked man chuckled lowly, sending a delectable shiver down his spine. “You should be more careful with your words.”

A flush began to creep up his neck as he replayed what he said in his head, but he decided to push through for the sake of their little game. “Or what?”

“Or I might take you up on them,” the man tilted his head slightly to one side, not unlike the bird his mask was based on. Something dark and seductive flared to life in his eyes, and Ferdinand swore his heart stopped for a beat or two.

He swallowed heavily, suddenly feeling very out of his depth and loving it. A sense that he was standing at a precipice, and every word exchanged was a step closer to the edge. “What if I wanted you to?”

“You don’t know what you’re asking,” he drawled, a warning that he wanted to ignore. “You don’t even know who I am.” He moved slightly closer to Ferdinand, but all of his senses were so overloaded, they may as well have been chest-to-chest.

“Maybe. But who says that needs to stop me?” Ferdinand was surprised at his own boldness, but he felt intoxicated by the masked man. Which, to be fair, he _was_ intoxicated in a more literal sense. Perhaps hypnotized was a better word. It was his eyes, poison green and shining in the low light. Something lurked just under the surface that called to him, made him want to dive in and drown. “I wonder what you look like under that scary mask.”

“Patience, my dear,” he chided, nearly purring. Even through the barrier of his mask, his voice curled around Ferdinand’s ears like smoke. More tangibly, his gloved hand reached up and began curling a strand of Ferdinand’s hair around a slender finger. “All in due time.” He found himself moving closer to his mystery man, resting his hand on the wall just above his hip, thumb skimming the fabric of his robes.

“Ah, Ferdie! There you are. _Oh!”_ Dorothea emerged onto the balcony in a flutter of glittering silks and jingling sashes, resplendent in her dancer costume, but paused when she saw him. “Sorry, am I interrupting something?” she grinned with faux-innocence, not sorry at all. Her sudden presence had sent Ferdinand reeling away from the other man like he’d been electrocuted, trying, and evidently failing, to make himself look casual.

“Dorothea,” he cleared his throat, tucking an errant strand of hair behind an ear. It was almost certainly the strand that his masked man had been toying with. The combined thoughts of that and the fact that he was suddenly ‘ _his_ masked man’ sent a wave of heat to his cheeks. “Did you need something?”

She hummed inquisitively, toying with one of her many sashes, her eyes flickering between the two of them. “Well, I wanted to check on you since I heard from Edie that your would-be beau skipped out on you,” her gaze settled on the mystery man, a glint of mischief in her emerald eyes. “But it seems to me you’re doing _just fine_.”

He could feel his face flushing even further. “I—well—that is—”

“No need to get all flustered, Ferdie.” Her eyes hadn’t left the other man and she winked, sporting a devilish grin. “You see? I _told_ you dressing up would be fun. And to think, you said he wouldn’t even _notice_ —”

 _“Are you quite finished?”_ his mystery man’s tone had a hard edge to it, but Ferdinand could see the tips of his ears flushing pink. He found himself wondering where else that endearing blush had spread to.

Dorothea dramatically gasped and placed a hand to her heart. “ _Ooh_ , that was almost _scary_. Glad to see you’re getting into the spirit.” With a giggle and a gentle _boop_ to the tip of his mask’s beak, she was gone as suddenly as she’d arrived.

“So, is Dorothea the friend you’re here for?”

“Not exactly. But as you may have guessed, she did provide this costume.”

“Say what you like about her, but she has always had a keen eye for clothing.” _Stop talking about Dorothea,_ his brain seemed to scream,almost desperate to steer the conversation back to where he hoped it was going before. “Well, in case I hadn’t made it abundantly clear, I’m quite a fan of this costume. Mask or not, it’s quite… intriguing. Rather suits the person wearing it.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere.” His tone hadn’t changed, but the reappearance of the blush coloring his ears belied his indifference.

“I assure you my words are sincere. Mere flattery would not capture the effect you’re having on me.” Perhaps he had shown too much of his hand there, but it was true.

“Really now?” Peridot eyes shone darkly down at him and a gloved hand came to rest on his bicep, drawing him closer in. Ferdinand nodded dumbly, already fallen back into his haze of attraction, despite the earlier interruption. “Well in that case, perhaps you may see the man behind the mask after all.”

“I look forward to it,” he breathed.

“Do you?” His hand had settled in the crook of his elbow and his thumb was tracing light circles there. “Have you not solved the puzzle, as you called it? I feel like I’ve given you plenty of hints.”

Visibly confused, Ferdinand tried to think back through their conversation so far but found his mind sticking at certain parts. Specifically, the parts where he felt his heart about to burst out of his chest, and he couldn’t say those were particularly helpful from an investigative standpoint. “You have?”

The masked man tutted softly and curled a gloved finger under Ferdinand’s chin, gently tilting his face upwards. “Oh, you poor thing. You’re trying so very hard, aren’t you? Trying to focus, trying to think. Trying so diligently to connect the dots I’ve laid out for you. I suppose you’ve earned one final clue. Shall I give it to you?” Ferdinand nodded slowly, the cogs in his mind coated in thick sludge, unable to turn. The man removed his hand from Ferdinand’s chin and he immediately felt its loss. “Close your eyes.”

Hesitantly, he did, though some small part of him was afraid that when he opened them, the man would be gone. An alcohol and loneliness-fueled dream that he was sure to wake up from at any moment. He heard a slight rustling of fabric and the sound of something solid hitting the tiles below, and before he could consider what that meant, there was a warm hand on his cheek and a pair of warmer lips met his own. He groaned into the kiss and found his arms wrapping around the other man’s waist, pulling him flush to his chest while his legs moved forward of their own volition to press him back against the wall. His actions earned him a surprised gasp, which he took as an opportunity to deepen the kiss, feeling the man’s hands wind into his hair as he did. The lips he embraced with his own were at once soft and firm, unyielding yet giving way to his own tender caresses. If this was a dream, he never wanted to wake up.

He did, however, need to breathe eventually, despite his desire to drown in the kiss. Ferdinand reluctantly broke off, resting their foreheads together, feeling his lover’s heavy breaths dance over his still-wet lips. His eyes fluttered as if they wanted to open, but he hesitated. If he did, the anonymity would be gone. But wasn’t that what he wanted? To solve the mystery?

“You can open them at any time, you know.” He spoke whisper-soft into his ear, and the proximity and lack of mask only amplified the spine-tingling effect from before. Ferdinand sighed softly, both from the sensation and the realization that he did have to open his eyes eventually. If he wanted any hope of whatever this was lasting beyond tonight, he couldn’t keep himself in the dark any longer. So, with one more deep breath for courage, he opened his eyes to meet those of—

“Hubert?”

He almost didn’t believe it at first, but the sharp cheekbones and sharper smirk could belong to no other. In his surprise, he had pulled slightly away but kept his arms loosely wrapped around Hubert’s waist. “Oh, good,” he quipped. “You _do_ remember me. I was almost worried.” He was clearly joking based on his tone, but even Ferdinand could sense the nervousness underlying his seemingly cool demeanor.

In retrospect, it was all so obvious. His hair, his eyes, his voice, his build. The friend he was here for that was clearly Edelgard, the familiar way Dorothea teased him, his dry wit, and complete lack of enthusiasm for the party. He even knew what whisky Ferdinand drank and it went right over his head.

Was he truly so out of it he didn’t recognize the man he’d been pining after for years just because he was wearing a mask?

“So, what do you think?” Hubert asked, snapping him out of his mental tailspin. How long had he been standing there staring into space?

“About what?”

“The _grand reveal_. Was the answer as fun as the game?”

“Well,” he paused, considering his answer. The fact that any of this was happening almost certainly meant that his long-buried feelings for the man who still had his arms draped over Ferdinand’s shoulders were not as one-sided as he thought. Indeed, surely the man nervously winding and unwinding a strand of Ferdinand’s hair around his finger who had been openly flirting with him and had just kissed him within an inch of his life felt something for him in return. With that in mind, it was very unfair to keep him in suspense any longer, and he moved back into the space he previously occupied pressed against Hubert’s chest. “I think that Dorothea is going to be very upset when she sees how you’ve treated the mask she loaned you.”

Hubert cast a brief glance at the crow mask discarded on the ground and shrugged, “I won’t tell if you don’t.”

Ferdinand hummed lightly, tilting his head to brush his nose against Hubert’s, “You may need to convince me.”

“ _Oh_?” His lover raised an eyebrow, the hand that was toying with his hair moving up to settle on the back of his head. “And pray tell, what is the price I must pay for your silence?”

“I’m sure we can come to an arrangement,” he whispered, feeling his lips brush against Hubert’s with every word, sending electric tingles shooting through him. He felt more than saw Hubert’s smile as their lips met once more.

**Author's Note:**

> I was going to explicitly state that they were in a modern-day Enbarr, but then I would be confirming that superheroes and Johnnie Walker exist in the same universe as the Immaculate One and I don’t know if the world is ready for that, myself included. And yes, Hubie’s costume is the dark mage uniform, specifically, the one he’s wearing on [that one FE0 Cipher card](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/fireemblem/images/8/81/B19-005HN_artwork.png/revision/latest?cb=20191212040036) cause fuck I love that card.
> 
> But yeah, this was basically an exercise in Dramatic Irony disguised as a coherent story. You love to see it.
> 
> Oh, and through no fault of Ferdinand’s, Dorotha absolutely found out that Hubert threw her nice mask on the ground to make out with his new bf and on the one hand, _fucking finally_ but also that is no excuse to toss around her fancy things. The walls have eyes, and they belong to one Yuri Leclerc. Just because he’s comforting his socially anxious girlfriend doesn’t mean he can’t keep an eye on this _fascinating_ little love story playing out just across the balcony. And you _know_ he spilled that tea.
> 
> likecommentandsubscribeokaybye


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